Press Releases, 12/11/2013 | Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland

Minister Haavisto to meet Jim Kim, President of the World Bank Group

Press release 240/2013
12 November 2013

Minister for International Development Pekka Haavisto will meet President of the World Bank Group Jim Kim at the meeting of the Governors of the Nordic and Baltic countries’ voting group, to be held in Reykjavik on Wednesday, 13 November.

Minister Haavisto is Finland’s Alternate Governor at the World Bank. Finland is responsible for the coordination of the voting group until summer 2016, and the group is represented on the World Bank Board of Directors by Satu Santala of Finland.

At their meeting in Reykjavik, the Governors will discuss, among other things, the World Bank’s new strategy and the related process of change, as well as cooperation between the World Bank and the UN.

In October, the World Bank’s Annual Meeting in Washington adopted the first ever strategy that encompasses the entire World Bank Group.

The strategy’s first main goal is to decrease the percentage of people living on less than $1.25 a day to no more than 3 per cent by 2030. The second main goal is to reduce inequality by promoting the income growth of the bottom 40 per cent of the population in developing countries.

In connection with the Governors’ meeting, the Nordic Development Ministers will hold their own meeting to discuss, for instance, the Post-2015 Development Agenda and support for fragile States.

The Governors’ meeting gives Finland the opportunity to have open dialogue with the President of the World Bank Group, thereby making it possible to influence the development of the World Bank Group’s operations.